COVID-19 GGH Update April 9

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Action/must read (2)
What’s New? (0)
Resources and Supplies (0)
Staff Support (1)
Policy Changes (0)
Notes & Comments (0)

Starting with the positive…

President and CEO Marianne Walker took to Facebook with a video to express her appreciation to the community for all the incredible support we’ve been getting. Standing in the staff entrance vestibule, the video also shared some of the wonderful messages received through the White Heart Project.

Reporting on COVID-19 activity in staff and patients

Total number of staff tested to date179
Total number of staff with a positive test result to date25
Total number of staff with a negative test result to date135
Total number of results pending19
Number of current in-patients who have tested positive7

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Action/Must read

Detailed instructions for proper PPE use
All staff have the responsibility to  ensure appropriate and responsible PPE use in order to conserve for future needs. Please review the GGH PPE use guidelines listed below to assist with extending the use of our finite supply of personal protective equipment.

HR Surveying staff
Ontario Health released new recommendations regarding employees who work at multiple sites during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, it recommends that organizations should proactively gather staffing reports to understand how many HCWs maintain employment at multiple sites, in the event that there is a requirement to re-assess and limit HCWs to one organization. Please note that at this time, Guelph General Hospital is not requiring staff to limit themselves to working at only one employer. *

In order to get this information, HR has created a short, web-based survey and ALL staff are asked to fill it out. The short survey will gather two main pieces of information:

  • Identifying HCW’s who work at multiple sites
  • a skills inventory to help identify where staff could work within our organization

* Currently, employees are not restricted to working only at one facility with some exceptions. Those who work in LTC have been asked to select one employer because of directives LTC have received. In addition, because we have one unit in currently in outbreak it may limit some workers from working at more than one hospital. If you have questions regarding this process, please continue to reach out to your director and HR. The Ontario Health COVID-19 Recommendations for Multi-Employer Health Care Workers are available here.

What’s new?

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Resources and Supplies

Staff Support

Message from Homewood Health
The anxiety and stress level in hospitals right now is increasing every day.  Mental health as well as physical health of healthcare workers is  becoming increasingly at risk as staff continue to work excessive hours, burning themselves out and reducing their resistance.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind our Healthcare EFAP customers, that the Crisis Management Services (CMS) are still available to help staff manage the ongoing stress and anxiety they face every day.  Homewood Health has developed some telephonic and virtual options to provide support during this pandemic.

Details about the options listed below can be found here.

  • First Call Care – for immediate and urgent needs on an individual basis
  • Outreach calls – customers can also reach out to our CMS team and provide a list of impacted employees, their phone numbers and verbal consent to receive a call back from one of our CMS clinicians
  • Standby – upon your request, CMS will ‘virtually deploy’ one or more CMS provider(s) for blocks of time to be available for employees via telephonic calls
  • Telephonic groups – a dedicated conference line will be arranged to support a maximum of 10 employees
  • Video Support – customers can also request video support, whether it’s for individual or group options, with a maximum of 10 attendees

Homewood has also created great handout resources for staff

Policy Changes

Notes & Comments

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